Chromehounds Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Published: Jan 24, 2006

Rookie School

While you can do story mode all sequentially, it's advised to start
each story mode's tutorial (right after the general tutorial), complete
it, then quit. This way, you go through each of the Role Type tutorials
to accustom yourself to each of the six intended jobs. You will find that
six Role Types are too specialized and you will start modifying each of
them to suit special mission needs.

Matt Casamassina-Nintendo"My name says it all, but I know all about the
power of large, clunky machinery. After all, I worked on the N64 channel.
The rule is that you have to start small to become big. Big like me, Matt
Casamassina."

Role Types are just that -- archetypes. They will not fit anything
except what war theorists have thought up of while sitting on their butts
in arm chairs. You will find that battle experience far outweighs classroom
instruction. Because each mission offline has different criteria, you will
find you will customize a specific Hound for that one task and never use
that design again (it may not even be very helpful in the online Neroimus
War). However, you can always save that assembly data and modify it further
to make it more effective.

So why finish the tutorials first? Well for one thing, the seven tutorials
do
not allow for customized Hounds. This means what you have for that
mission is defaulted to what is available from the designers (FromSoft).
This also means that what ever Hound design you have, you can use to get
an S Rank grade on that tutorial. Getting seven S Ranks this early on will
net you a few leg, body, and generator parts for designing your own Hound
for the story or for Xbox Live play. The weapons will come soon enough
once you complete the first "training school" -- the soldier campaign.

Some more things for people who don't have manuals:

General tutorial teaches you all the basics.

Hold BACK for self-destruct.

L3 activates your Hound's torch.

LB and LT are the assist part equivalents of the weapons, like nightvision.

Mission Failure

As for battle tips, only trial and error will let you learn from your
past mistakes. A failure to learn is a failure of mind. And a failure of
the mind means you are unfit to be a Hound pilot (these things cost much-O
money to buy and run). Wash out as a Hound pilot and you're regulated to
mobile infantry. Wash out of infantry, and you might as well be piloting
cargo planes to a podunk Third World country for the rest of your military
career.

Hold BACK (three seconds) to retry any offline
mission.

Sometimes, you can just pass a mission and move on to another. You may
not have the parts you at the moment to pass a particular mission until
you score some more S Rank grades and grab more parts offline. Don't feel
bad; when something gives you trouble, move on and then come back with
reinforcements or better equipment. When you do fail a mission, ask yourself
what caused the failure -- only through self-analysis can you react appropriately
with a Hound design.

Jessica "BACK In 3 Seconds" Chobot"Hold the BACK button and you can retry (or respawn).
I can't believe I lost! Again!! I'm not whining -- I'm crying --- waaaaaaaa!!"

Problem - I could not find the mission objective.

Press the YELLOW button to bring up the tactical map. Not all objectives
are highlighted by a blue dot. Certainly, enemies do not appear. The map
only shows the grid (sometimes useful), COMBAS, and known buildings of
strategic value (what the game calls 'bases'). Don't cut the introduction
of the mission. Clues to your mission are broadcast at that time.

Problem - I keep dying at XXX spot.

This means your Hound is being out-gunned, out-manuevered, or you moved
to a bad spot on the map and let the enemy AI rip you apart like a wet
tissue at a snot party. If it's a bunch of enemies destroying you each
time, you need to avoid that spot next time. If you're lacking range or
firepower, remedy that in a custom design. Not all default designs are
perfect for each mission, especially when S Rank is called for.

Problem - I ran out of fuel.

This is rare, but it can happen if you're jerking around on a large
map and you dilly dally in fighting. Generators only carry so much fuel.
Run out and you're a failure. Remedy this by packing a larger generator,
lightening your Hound or adding the optional spare fuel tanks (from the
Commander campaign). More pragmatically, you can stick to a faster method
to finish the mission so you don't worry too much about fuel in the first
place.

Problem - My weapons aren't able to hit anything.

Weapons are range dependent. Long ranges are only covered by something
capable of that range -- like a Sniper Rifle or Sniper (not regular) Cannon.
Most weapons are only good to about 300 meters. Anything beyond that range
is difficult to hit even using the larger weapon camera. Either learn to
love the sniper weapons, or build your Hound to close the distance before
you shred the opposition.

Problem - My weapons don't do enough damage!

Weapons are based on mathematical stats but also on how they behave
when fired. Bombs are great (1400 damage) but they drop to the ground 50
meters in front of your Hound. Not a great idea when you are faced against
a bunch of pseudo-Hound snipers. Look for weapons that not only do the
damage, but also do what you want them to do (mostly) when fired. Test
them all in a trial run in the assembly screen, and save the assembly data
if you like it. The best advice IGN has to offer for close range weapons
are two words, "HEAT Launcher" (specifically, HEAT Launcher 2, but the
other offline one you earn can be used if placed correctly in a design).

Designing Your Own Ride

Even though you will not be designing your Hound until after you complete
at least one story campaign (soldier, most likely) you need to hear about
the basics now. Like all other Armored Combat Vehicles (ACVs), Hounds need
to balance their performance in speed, protection, and offensive power
under the limitations of weight, parts availability, and in terms of online
conditions, cost.

Steve Butts-Leicher"Make fun of my name all you want, but I've got
more parts than you do. Take the time to gather your resources, or you've
got the game telling you your choice of ride. In that case, even I can
kick you in my last name while you kiss the same!"

First off, you need parts. You start off with zero parts, so you won't
be using the design feature anytime soon. Go ahead and play through each
of the tutorial modes for each Role Type. If you pass one and don't get
an S Rank, you can replay them in Free Battle.

Refer to the guide for how to fight on each map and get that S Rank
grade. Most of the missioins are straight forward enough that you don't
need a list of parts earned. Assuming you finish the tutorials adequately,
you get enough free parts for bodies, legs, and generators. Starting with
them, you can start adding the weapons you earn from other campaigns and
make your Hound suited for any of the 36 missions you can bring a custom
Hound on.

Notice the warning lights for the design. Each time you design a Hound,
you need to pay attention to those lights, or you will have a design that
cannot move or fight.

Alert Lamp (Weapons Unassigned) - You have outstanding weapons
not wired to a firing slot. This is the most common mistake once you change
weapons. Once all weapons are assigned to a firing slot, this lamp turns
off. Note that you can assign one weapon to multiple slots. If you do,
have a load of ammo for it. Note that the first weapon will provide its
zoom level and sight. If your other weapons outrange it or fall short,
you won't see the shots when using weapon cam.

Alert Lamp (Low Energy) - Your generator is insufficient for
the weapons and systems you assembled. Get a larger generator or kick out
your extraneous gear. Note that NAM (Network Area Makers) are very power
hungry.

Alert Lamp (Overweight) - Your Hound is too fat.
Get rid of some parts or you will need to migrate to a different leg assembly
to increase the maximum weight capacity. Highlighted parts get removed,
but attached parts may sometimes collide with existing parts -- if you
want to start from scratch, remove the leg assembly.

Alert Lamp (Missing Legs) - Self explanatory.

Alert Lamp (Missing Body) - Self explantory.

Alert Lamp (Oversize) - A Hound can only be so large. Large Hounds
are impractical in Xbox Live and offline. The larger you are, the easier
you are to hit. It's everyone's dream to pilot a small pseudo hover with
the defence and firepower of a heavy gunner/defender and the speed of a
hover scout. That ain't gonna happen though. If you want to make yourself
look impressive and stupid, you can push your parts to the edge and incur
the red bounding sphere. Anything under that is "legitimate" for design
-- anything outside is illegal. Hounds with an illegal size limit will
not be saved.

Clustering VS Spreading Weapons

Clustering weapons seems stupid, or it might be a great idea, depending
on how much a mecha fan you are. Actually, you will be doing both for Chromehounds,
depending on the weapon's recoil.

Cluster weapons when they are light recoil (recoil of
50 or less) and you have a few of them. Clustering makes weapons more accurate,
since they are firing from the same target from generally the same location
on your Hound. The chance of the weapon's projectile hitting something
on the way from your Hound to the target is decreased, giving you better
ammunition efficiency.

Clustered weapons do suffer from the fact that a single large attack
(or multiple strong attacks) will destroy that entire cluster of weapons.
Should that occur, you need to rely on other weapons or you will be one
dead piece of machinery on the field.

Spread weapons will be best for instances of weapons with
high recoil, such as cannon and howitzers. When "spreading" weapons, you
are basically keeping the weapon load symmetrical on both sides of the
Hound. This way, the recoil of the weapons will be equal and the reticule
will aim up (or down) when you fire, instead of having it go left or right
as well.

While spread layout weapons are tougher to knock out (you have to be
hit on all locations to destroy all the weapons) they have the disadvantage
of dissipating the firepower and reducing accuracy. If you're next to a
building or canyon corner, and half of your weapons are hitting the wall,
you're wasting ammunition.

Weapon Camera

Aaron "Ex-XBox Gun Nut" Boulding"You can't hit what you can't see. A Hound with
eight cannons looks great but if you can't aim the sucker, you're just
another Hound with more bark than bite. Put your gun camera in a safe place,
or you might as well make like Chobot and hold the BACK button."

Each of the four weapon groups has one weapon designated the "gun camera".
When you switch to weapon cam, the view is from that weapon. If that weapon
is destroyed, your camera will no longer function. That said, your "camera
gun" should be the most protected weapon in the cluster and preferably
carry the most ammunition (for weapons that have that option). The white
hexagons on the bottom represent the weapon that should be the first selection
in a gun grouping, for the sides and top.

Following this rule, the outer weapons will be struck first and be useless.
However, weapons lower to the ground will have a greater chance of suffering
damage. In fact you may notice that the most damaged part you have while
playing are your legs. This is due to "shot drop off", or to put simply,
the enemy projectiles are falling down short of your Hound and hitting
the legs. Although you'd expect that the tallest Hound will suffer the
most damage, that is only true if the incoming fire hits your Hound.

Mark "Chippy" Ryan"Licking food keeps the others off my lunch.
The key strategy online is to keep the other guy harrassed by destroying
his weapons or capping his legs so you and your team can do the mission
unmolested. The disgust you cause the other side by telling them how to
lick food is a bonus."

Enemies (and humans) often miss and their shots tend to fall short or
explode on the ground near your Hound. That said, you shoudl be aware that
unless an enemy opens fire up close (at 200 meters), your Hound will usually
suffer damage at the lower extremeties, even if you are below your enemy
(human players spalsh the ground, not your Hound, with howitzer fire).
Different locations will mean different things for your Hound:

Cockpit - Damage to the cockpit, or your body, will destroy
you eventually. Consider this the mmost vulnerable but best defended part
of your Hound, since it is generally surrounded by weapons and other parts.
Only Hounds with really exposed cockpits (like putting it on top of every
part) will be vulnerable to sniper fire. On Xbox Live, cockpit crippling
will only occur if the Hound can barely move, so stick with something medium
ranged but fairly heavy.

Legs - Legs determine the max load of a Hound. Basically
how much you can carry. Legs are segregated into different categories:

Bipedal Human -- Forward knee joint legs are best for the soldier RT. These
legs are fast, but not as fast as the movement enhanced wheel and hover
units. These legs suffer from low stability for firing long range weapons,
and are utterly average for most tasks.

Bipedal Reverse -- Reverse knee joint legs are best for the sniper and
commander RTs. These legs are slower than forward knee joints, but offer
higher stability for firing long range weapons. They cannot support much
weight as some other legs, but are suited for the sniper RT "to a T".

Multipedal -- Multipedal or Quad legs are best for the gunner RT. These
legs are the slowest but most weight capable of all legs. You won't go
anywhere at all with these legs, but then again, you're supposed to be
carrying weapons that really reach out and touch someone.

Tank Treads -- Caterpillar units are intended for defender and commander
RTs, but unless you are really good or outnumber the enemy, you will find
a static defence very tough when you keep getting outranged by snipers.
Opt for bird legs and be more mobile. Tank treads are stable as bird legs,
but slower.

Hover -- Hover units are intended for scouts and while hover units are
not as fast as wheels, they allow a Hound to cross water without movement
penalty. However, stability is non-existent on an air-cushion and the low
weight make this unit unsuitable to the heavy firepower you might expect
in the Neroimus War.

Wheel -- Wheeled units are purportedly the fastest thing for scout RTs.
Inadequate in water, but great on open ground, wheel units are restricted
in their mobility in any map with many steep grades or large water hazards.
Unless you're playing a flat map with no water, stick with something else.

Damage to legs are good against the enemy, especially if you outnumber
the target. This means that the target can't move fast enough to get out
of the way, and a slowed down Hound is certainly not helpful in a moving
battle or COMBAS capture. The enemy pilot will probably self-destruct to
get back into the game with a fresh machine, unless he has no more lives
left.

Generator - Damage to the generator will reduce fuel,
as well as affect energy. Low energy means some of your systems go offline,
including weapons. Larger generators are often better, but that means displacing
weight for more weapons. Destruction of generators is like destroying legs;
you destroy the enemy's mobility and ability to fire weapons. Generators
are hard to hit, but something with a fat explosion (i.e., howitzers) will
cover that problem.

Weapon Parts - Damage to weapons and parts is self-explanatory,
once they stop working for you. Special ability units like thermograph
and NAMs also stop working with damage. Destroying weapons (called 'de-fanging')
an opponent is a good way to occupy the "spot" he's in but make him less
dangerous. He might still be there, occupying valuable space for a fresh
machine, but he can't attack you if he has no weapons. Naturally, de-fanged
opponents can still capture a COMBAS, but he may not be able to defend
it from you.

Fuel - Not exactly damage, but more of a self-imposed
time limit. When you press YELLOW for the tactical map, you will find a
fuel bar in the lower left corner. When it runs out, you fail the mission
for lack of movement. Move fast and move with purpose, or you might as
well make like Chobot and hold the BACK button.

Weapon Types

Weapons do two types of damage. Kinetic Energy and Chemical Energy.
Although both methods are applied in real armor columns, in Chromehounds,
you only need to know that they are "elemental classes". If a particular
target has a high kinetic defence, you use chemical energy weapons to do
more damage and vice versa.

Still, don't go out of your way to accomodate both types of damage.
Sometimes, the sheer quantity of damage you do (say a weapon does 5000
points of damage) will probably make it very useful regardless if the target
has a high defence or not. Usually, defence offline doesn't amount to much.
Online, defences are more formidable, but rarely go into the high triple
digits (otherwise, it unbalances the matches).

Christopher "Wisconsin" Carle"I'm Chris Carle and I say you need to employ
the right weapon for the right target. Most of the enemies you face in
single player are not all that tough but Xbox Live is different, so you
need to plan for it!"

Weapon damage and part defence work by subtracting part defence from
weapon damage for each hit. What this means though, is that a single big
shot hurts more than ten shots doing the same damage. Here's an example
--

Let's say a machine gun does 150 points per shot. It shoots ten times.
Assuming all ten shots hit the target, you will do 1500 damage.

Now let's take a HEAT Launcher, which does about 1000 points of damage.
While it will do a potential total of 1000 damage (less than the machinegun),
here's where the defence kicks in.

A target has 20 points of defence. The machine gun's 150 damage per
shot is reduced to 130. Now assuming all the same ten shots hit the target,
you have a new damage total of 1300. The HEAT Launcher will do 980 damage.
Percentage wise, the HEAT launcher lost fewer damage than the machinegun.

Now here's another issue -- what makes you think you can land all ten
shots with the machinegun when people are moving around? Say half of your
shots hit, you do 650 damage. Now don't forget that you mount a max of
four machineguns and roughly the half hit their mark (2600 damage). For
the HEAT Launcher, they only fire one shot, but in a real time battle,
your first shot might make all the difference -- if your HEAT launchers
are bundled together, you do 3920 damage (one salvo).

The last thing you need to figure in is time, which is constant
passing. As you mill around firing machineguns, enemies firing large weapons
will do more damage (mostly -- the HEAT launcher reloads very quickly for
a big weapon) over the same period of time you're hosing down targets.
In the end, you probably wind up losing if you prolong a fight.

In short, mount the largest damage weapons you have, group them and
get in the first killing shot. The earlier an enemy is down and out, the
better off you are.

IGN.com's Network-In-A-Box"I'm the CMS for IGN.com. When things work correctly,
I'm popular but taken for granted. The lesson here is never take things
for granted. What you bring to a mission will usually not be enough on
Xbox Live. Don't forget you are facing Hounds that have similar parts as
yours."

Machine Gun - Rapid fire weapons are great since they
have plenty of ammo, but you have to remain in range for them to work.
Good for tanks and stuff, but not good for Hound of any design.

Assault Rifle - The poor man's sniper rifle, the assault
rifle is a good trade off between sniper rifles and machineguns. Bundle
a few and you can take down most pseudo-Hounds quickly (even the large
ones) and still have the ammo for tanks. Assault rifles are reliable, but
don't depend on them too much past 400 meters.

Shotgun -- Not so useless online as it is offline, since
you have more enemies to fight offline than on it. Shotguns are good up
close, but consder the range of cannons and howitzers when attacking, or
you might wind up receiving the bad end of the battle.

Sniper Rifle -- How can a three story thirty ton Hound
be a sniper is beyond anyone's guess. Sniper weapons have low ammo capacity,
but good damage and range. When you don't want to get close, use this weapon.
Sniper (not regular) cannon are an even better choice. Just make sure to
have bird or tank legs when using this weapon or you won't hit squat.

Explosives - Nice explosive toys, but they are dumbfire
and don't track very well once they leave the tube. The only good explosive
is the HEAT Launcher, which has a good short range combat and does obscene
damage against the weak enemies offline. Take the HEAT launcher instead
of a shotgun if you need the one-hit kill firepower.

Artillery and Large bore cannon - You get these once the
gunner mission come into play. Cannons are like slow firing assault rifles
and are not a good idea to use unless you need them for a gunner role.
Howitzers and mortars are high angle weapons, but howitzers are better
since you can aim those close range and destroy nearly anything (including
yourself) in front. However, the weight precludes mounting them on anything
except a multipedal unit.

Special Assist Parts - Offline, the only assist parts
you really need are nightvision, the NAM, extra fuel tanks, and the thermograph.
If you can mount armor, all the better, but that's not always necessary.
Just makes your Hound look cool.

Network-In-A-Box's Cousin, The
Page Encountered An Error"I'm the error everyone hates, even if I'm doing
my job to warn editors, like Spence (link).
Losing is inevitable, but only n00bs fail to learn from mistakes. Take
on new or different weapon loadouts and apply them so you win next time,
or you might as well hold the BACK button like Chobot."